Clothes Thieves

Illustrator cs3 and Photoshop cs3

Happy holidays everyone. This is the last illustration project for the semester. From here on out everything will be personal projects and thesis. So be ready to see some awesome vectored art geared towards app games and children's book process work for my original story "Lost and Found". 

Love, Erica

Ps. rest assured I'll be making sure to post at least every week as my goal is to do one small sketchbook painting a day and also working on self promotional pieces. :3 I'll definitely be updating a lot though, I promise. So be excited because I am. Stay warm and productive everybody. 

Tea Time on a Turtle

So I'm excited to announce the end of the fall semester 2011. Yay. That much closer to thesis; that much closer to spring; that much closer to job hunting; that much closer to graduation. A lot will be happening in the months to come. I'll be working on thesis all break and also getting a head start on applying for jobs and the such. Definitely have a full break ahead of me. Trying my best to stay productive. I hope everyone has a great break. 

Oh but more about this piece. I wasn't really digging the direction that the former tea party project was going, and I know this idea is a much simpler concept, I feel more accomplished and satisfied than I did while working/trying to finish the last piece. I picked something up when I went to CTN-x this past month, and that was: If something isn't working right, don't be afraid to start over. Sometimes you just save a lot of time just mustering up the courage to abandoning the first attempt and starting anew instead of belaboring over a mistake you made and trying to correct it to move on. I was told from the higher ups, people who's art and work ethics I admire, Michale Defeo,  Florian Satzinger, Ryan Woodward, that if something isn't working right, and it's no longer the direction you had originally envisioned, or if you're just not happy with how things are going, I shouldn't be afraid to scrap an idea and start fresh. 

And so I did. And this is the result. It's still an illustration about tea time, just less humans, more japanese animal folklore. :] It's a relatively simple composition, in your face. I really wanted to just focus on the characters and Was really digging just the process of creating art for the fun of it. I had a lot of fun with this little 9"x12" watercolor piece and completed it within 2 night's worth of work from ideation to final painting completion. I took a lot of inspiration from Japanese traditional tea ceremonies and the art of Alina Chau. I found and watched some pretty awesome youtube videos of her doing some watercolor demos. I wish to emulate her grace and fluidity in painting breath taking little water colors. Her technique is really quite impeccable. And here is my attempt at emulating her work ethic. :] I hope I accomplished something here; I'm rather happy with how it came out. Let me know what you think. 

 Final 

Ideas/Fucking around w/ composition.

Some character studies

Quick thumbnail of final composition.

Quick line and color studies

Love, Erica.

Ps. Look forward to seeing more work up really soon. :D Have an awesome winter break everyone!

Some studs

Just thought I'd post some progress work. 

 simple value

in progress final color. 

Some more color studies to come soon as I have the time to scan them in and post. :] And also look forward to another small illustration project I'm working on based on "tea time".

'Til we meet again. :3 Have a good weekend!  Stay warm. 

-Erica

Just a preview

This is in the works, but it's an illustration about a dog getting jumped by clothes thieves! :O

Well, yeah. :3 stay tuned for  more process and final illustration. Oh and also stay tuned for those handmade sketchbooks I keep talking about. :3

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone. :]

-Erica

Busyyy. @__@;

Hullo!

I'm sorry for the long drought in updating my blog. I've been crazy busy with classes and preparing for the CTN Animation Expo that I'll be attending this weekend in Burbank, California.

But well, all of that aside, I give you. . . . "Monster Feast!"

This piece was a 3 week project in illustration class. The idea was inspired by a story my children's book literature teacher was telling about how some neighborhood in Bradenton was having a lawn decorating competition during the weekend of Halloween. And one of the houses had a great idea of having a Monster feast theme with a dining table set on their lawn with stuffed monsters sitting in chairs eating from bowls and plates filled with human appendages. I thought to myself, "Sweet! I'm going to draw this!" But in a really cute, kid friendly-kind of way. Of course. :]

Here're some detail shots:

Whelp. That's all I have for you this time around. I'll be busy, busy, busy this weekend at the Creative Talent Networking convention in Burbank, getting my portfolio reviewed by the likes of Nickolodeon, Pixar, Disney, Imaginism studios, just to name a few. I'm nervous as shit, but I know that only good will come of it. :] Wish me luck!

Love, Erica. 

P.S.  next post to come. . . the pieces I revised for the portfolio I put together for CTN. anndddd. more illustration work that I finished up. Andddd. . . all of the crazy cool hand made books I made this past summer. So please be excited and check back again for those. ;] Happy turkey day in advance! :3

REPOST: Some old, some new! oh & some really new!

Herro again,

I've got so much to share with you guys this time around, I'm afraid that next time I won't have anything exciting to share with you. :{ hehe. But I suppose I'll worry about that when the time comes. Anyhoots, new illustration project done! This sculpture was inspired by my friendly, curious, and troublesome dog, Maxwell (to the right). He may not look like much, but he can become quite the handful.

 

I call it "The Hamburglar".

The story behind this sculpture revolves around this little girl who yearns for truth, justice, and any opportunity to show off her ultra cool laser gun! She fights evil with her crazy, cool glasses, always-ready-to-stomp-some-face combat boots, and her trusty laser blaster gun. In this moment in time, she is simply hounding down the culprit who stole her hamburger. That nasty fiend, who does that raccoon think he is? I had a whole bunch of fun coming up with the concept for this piece. It was done in 2 weeks time. I hope to do many, many more sculptures in the future. Especially now that I got myself a trusty, extra-handy Sculpey clay conditioner! YAY!

 

A collection of butts, breasts, chairs, wigs, hats, and all that goes in between. :]

Some heads from my 30 heads assignment from Pratt's ill class last fall. The subjects include, but are not limited to: Paolo Carcamo, Deshe Reynolds, Ashley Rivera, Tarrah Belcher, Dillon Endico, and Izzy Ishmael.

This is a work in progress, started early this past summer, but never had the opportunity to finish. It's a wedding portrait of my parents in oil. I had to stop suddenly on this painting due to the happenings of finding an internship in faraway New York City this summer. I plan to finish this baby up over winter break. :]

The process work for an in progress illustration that I based a little bit on Alice in Wonderland's tea party, but less psychodelic and more children costume play pretend. It's been turned in for critique already, and I'm in the process of finishing it up. I'll post more on that later. :]

Til next time.

Love, Erica.